


Dugouts And Waterfalls

by koganphrancis



Category: Shameless (US), gallavich - Fandom
Genre: AU Gallavich, Fluff, M/M, some smut too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 07:45:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11687184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koganphrancis/pseuds/koganphrancis
Summary: For Gallavich Week 2017B Day 4 Wedding/HoneymoonAn addendum to Yevgeny's First Fairy (not necessary to have read that first if you don't feel inclined)





	Dugouts And Waterfalls

One hot August night Ian and Mickey went to the movies, just the two of them. It was the night before Mickey’s birthday, but Ian would be working the next night, so he had arranged for Yevgeny to spend the night at Fiona’s to get some pre-birthday alone time with Mickey. On the weekend they’d have a family party at the Gallaghers’, but Ian wanted one night to try to do something special for Mick, even though Mickey didn’t see the point in making a fuss over birthdays for anyone but kids.

The movie was a typical summer blockbuster, fun to watch and immediately forgettable as soon as you got home from the multiplex.

Ian and Mickey got off the El and were walking the rest of the way home, discussing the more exciting parts of the movie and then wondering how Yev was getting on.

“Are you kidding?” Mickey snorted. “With your sisters and Franny and Vee and her twins fawning all over him? He loves going to Fiona’s, he’s always the center of attention there. He thrives on all those females treating him like a little king. He’s like Hugh Hefner there, we ought to see if we can get him a little smoking jacket.”

“No son of mine is ever going to objectify women,” Ian said, dead serious.

“Calm down, Ian, it was just a joke. Even if they made little smoking jackets, we couldn’t afford one,” Mickey snarked. Ian still looked thunderous. “Ey, is this about how I used to run the Rub and Tug?”

“What?” Ian said, surprised out of his thoughts of Yev as a little Hef.

“When I was a pimp?” Mickey reminded him.

“Mickey, that was totally different-you weren’t objectifying those women, you were…organizing labor.”

“Okay, tough guy, whatever you say,” Mickey laughed.

“No, really!” Ian wanted to make his point. “You didn’t make them dress up in ridiculous costumes and call them ‘bunnies’ and make them parade around for men. You took a group of women who were doing what they were doing to make money already, and gave them a place to work, and looked out for them…”

“Ian, I was a pimp.”

Ian rolled his eyes. He guessed the important thing was, Mickey didn’t do that anymore. Mickey and Ian had been back together for a little over two years now, and in all the time Mickey had been free from prison he hadn’t so much as jaywalked. He was definitely living the life of a law abiding citizen.

“Hot as balls, tonight,” Mickey observed, changing the subject.

Ian grinned. “Funny you should say that.” Ian turned at a corner that would take them in the opposite direction of the Milkovich house and kept walking, Mickey having to rush a little to catch up since he had turned towards home at first.

“Hey, where you going?” Mickey asked, falling back in step beside Ian.

“You’ll see,” Ian grinned, raising his chin to the sky.

“Gallagher, if you’re dragging me to some lame fucking surprise party, I’ll dump your ass right here and go on home…it’ll be better for you if you just tell me now.”

“No party, Mick, I promise. I’m betting on us being completely alone where we’re going.”

They walked for a few more minutes and Ian’s destination came in sight. Ian walked right up to the chain link fence and gave it a shake.

“Ian, we’re not…”

“Sorry I don’t have any beer for us to shotgun, but, come on,” Ian said, climbing up and over the fence like it was nothing.

“Ian, it was one thing when we were kids and we snuck onto the field, but I get the feeling the local cops aren’t going to be willing to look the other way at a couple of grown men fooling around in public.”

Ian was on the other side of the fence now, looking through the links at Mickey.

“You want to pussy out on me, that’s your prerogative,” Ian said in a completely reasonable tone that always pissed Mickey off when they were in a dispute. “I’m not planning on staying long, but I do want a look ‘round.” He turned and started to walk away from the fence.

“Jesus, Ian,” Mickey muttered, grabbing onto some links and hauling himself up and over.

Ian had stopped to watch Mickey get over the fence, and he grinned and grabbed Mickey’s hand when he was close enough.

“Come on, I promise I just want to stay long enough to see the sprinklers go off,” Ian said with a wise ass grin on his face. Mickey rolled his eyes and let Ian drag him off towards the dugout.

They walked down the steps into the home team dugout.  Mickey looked around.

"It seems smaller than I remember," he said.  Then he turned to face Ian.  Ian went down in front of him and he expected Ian to go for his belt buckle, but Ian took his hand instead.  

Mickey gave him a curious look, but before he could ask Ian what was up, Ian began speaking.

"I , uh, I want to give you something, and I want it to be one thing, but since it is your birthday tomorrow we can say it's just for that and that's what we'll tell people, but I really want you to keep it either way..."

"Ian, did you eat too many Sour Patch Kids?  Are you on some sort of a sugar rush?"  Mickey couldn't make sense out of whatever it was Ian was trying to say, and that wasn't like them.  Usually they knew what the other meant whether they were saying it with words or not.

Ian reached into the front pocket of his jeans with the hand that wasn't holding Mickey's.  He took out something small, something that gave off a glint of gold when the lights from the field hit it just right.  Mickey finally noticed Ian was on one knee, not two.  

"Mickey, I want to ask you to marry me," Ian said, his big eyes looking up into Mickey's in the ambient light from the field.  "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I know we can do that anyway without ever making it official, but I also want you to be the one who is legally my next of kin if ever the time comes when someone has to make decisions for me about my health.  And, if you'd let me, I'd really like to be that person for you, and for Yevgeny if you're ever not able to, and I want you guys to have my insurance and any benefits if something ever happened to me on the job...but what's most important is I love you and I want the world to know you have me and I have you."

Mickey didn't say anything, so Ian babbled on.

"But you can see here-this is a claddagh ring, so if you wear it on your right hand it means you're in a relationship, so you can wear it even if we're not engaged.   You know, if you want to...it, uh, it can just be my birthday present to you."

Mickey reached into his back pocket with his free hand.  He flipped the leather case open with one hand, but then had to gently extract his other hand from Ian's to open the little change pouch flap.  Ian wondered what he could be taking out of there, he knew one of Mickey's pet peeves was he thought that pocket was useless because the minute you put any coins in that it made the wallet pooch out and he didn't like that.  

"I, uh, I didn't know you'd be doing anything like this, and I've been trying to think when the time would be right to ask you if you’d accept this," Mickey said, tipping the wallet so a silver band slid into his waiting hand.  "It's got an aquamarine in it, see?"  Mickey held the ring out so Ian could see the small stone set into the ring.  "Supposed to be blue and green, right?  Like your eyes?"

"Like our eyes, me and you," Ian breathed, not sure that this was really happening.  

Mickey stuffed his wallet back in his pocket and got down on one knee too, sort of slotting his body to Ian's.  

"I'll marry you if you'll marry me," Mickey grinned.  Ian nodded enthusiastically and they brought their heads together to seal the promise with a kiss.  Then Ian placed the claddagh on Mickey's left hand, the heart pointing towards his fingertips.  Mickey slid the silver band onto Ian's left ring finger and they both looked at the rings for a second but then raised their eyes to each other.  This felt huge, each one of them wanted to burst with happiness.

"A little card came with the ring," Ian said, not knowing what to do with the overwhelming emotions roiling inside him.  "If you wear the heart pointing out like that on your left hand it means you’re engaged, and when you're married you have the heart pointing at yourself.  But, uh, I'd kind of like us to get matching wedding rings...someday."  Ian knew they'd have to save up for them, and that maybe Mickey would say they should just get Ian a claddagh and that'd be close enough, but in his heart of hearts, he wanted them to have plain bands exactly the same.  But at the end of the day that didn't matter, all that mattered was they were going to be a real family, legally and forever.  

"Matching rings sound good," Mickey agreed.  "We'll have to save up for them, but, yeah.  Matching."  He smiled and kissed Ian again.  "I love you," he said, breaking the kiss but keeping his forehead pressed against Ian's.  "Let's go home and seal the deal."

"Let's do that here," Ian said.  "Come on, Mick.  This is our spot."

How could Mickey deny his brand new fiancé?  

"You got lube?"  Mickey asked.

"Don't I always?" Ian smiled.  

"Pretty sure you were going to get lucky tonight, huh?"

"Don't I always?" Ian said again with a laugh.  

They both helped each other back onto their feet and Mickey undid his belt while he swaggered over to the low wall of the dugout overlooking the field.  Ian gently placed his hand on Mickey's shoulder and guided him down so he was bent over and they both lowered their pants, giggling like schoolboys all the while.  

Ian slicked up three fingers on his right hand and started to work Mickey open.  Mickey relaxed into it and after a moment reached back with his right hand and found a way to start stroking Ian without getting their arms tangled up.  Their breathing turned heavier and as much as they wanted to take their time with each other, Mickey had had a point about having sex in a public place.  He gave Ian's cock a final firm tug and said, "Get on me."  

Ian smirked at his cocky tone, but slicked himself up with the remaining lube in the packet and lined himself up.  Mickey gripped onto the top of the concrete wall in front of him, his new ring rubbing against the rough surface.  Then Ian was pushing into him and he forgot about the ring and the wall and just concentrated on that familiar feel of Ian filling him.  

"Uh, yeah, yeah, come on, Ian, that's it," he panted quietly.  Ian stayed silent, although his heavy breathing was saying enough to Mickey.  They always could manage to be quiet when they had to.  

Ian got all the way in and paused for Mickey's benefit, peppering his neck and shoulders with kisses all around the collar of his tank top.  His lips made their way up to the spot beneath Mickey's ear that always sent shivers down Mickey's entire spine.  

"Fuck, yeah," Mickey whispered.  "Move, man, let's do this."  

Ian grinned and nipped playfully at that spot, then pulled almost all the way out and began thrusting into Mickey.  Ian had his left hand over Mickey's, and with his right hand he grabbed a chunk of Mickey's ass cheek, both to spread it out away from the other cheek and because he loved the feeling of Mickey's bouncing flesh filling up his hand.  Mickey was pushing back on every thrust and they worked up a quick rhythm and Ian was hitting Mickey's prostate and it all felt so good.

"You close yet?" Mickey got out, past his clenched teeth.  

"Yeah, Mick.  Let go, I'm right there with you," Ian breathed into his ear, reaching around to jerk Mickey off.  A couple more perfectly placed thrusts that poked his prostate and Mickey did as Ian requested, coming hard with his come hitting the dugout wall.  Ian came an instant later, and Mickey kept pushing back against him to help Ian ride out his orgasm.  They finally both came down to earth and just as Ian gently slipped out of Mickey, the sprinklers popped up out of the field and started going off with quick bursts.  Ian laughed his big goofy laugh.

"We're getting MARRIED!" Mickey yelled out over the empty field.  He reached down and pulled up his pants and turned around and kissed Ian.  "We're getting married," he repeated quietly.   

The next day they went over to Fiona's to pick up Yevgeny.  Ian was in his uniform, he was working a bitch of a noon to midnight shift.  He had given Mickey his birthday present a couple times over in bed between the night before and that morning and was praying for a relatively quiet day and night on the rig, since he felt like he was a bit spent.  Ian was going to go right to work from Fiona's and Mickey was going to take Yevy home.  They rightly assumed he wouldn't have gotten much sleep the night before and Mickey's plan was to feed him lunch and put him to bed for a nap.  Mickey's company gave its employees their birthday off with pay, so he had the whole day off even though it was a weekday.  Mickey was looking forward to a nap too, but Ian had lavished so much attention on his ass and his nipples that Mickey was left wondering if he’d even be able to lay down to sleep. He figured curling up in a fetal position was his best chance.

When they got to Fiona's, Yev was on the couch listlessly watching TV.  Franny was already down for a nap and the Ball twins had left after a breakfast meltdown where they each wanted to use the same purple cup.  Even though Fiona had two purple cups for when they came over, they each insisted on wanting the same one.  Yev had dark circles under his eyes.  

"Whoa, buddy, you get the number of the bus that ran you over?" Mickey said, taking in his pale son's appearance.  

"Hi, Papa.  Hi, Daddy," Yev said, yawning.  

"Come on, Little Man, say goodbye to Daddy so he can get to work and we can go home," Mickey said.  Yev had started calling Ian Daddy during the school year. Both Mickey and Ian had attended Parents’ Night and Yev’s little friend Laney who had two dads was pointing out the various kids who had two mommies, or two daddies, or a dad and a mom, or multiple parents.

“Who is your daddy?” Laney had asked, her big brown eyes looking around the room.

“What does a daddy do again?” Yev asked, searching his brain for an English to Russian equivalent.

“He takes care of you, and lives with you, usually, unless you have two mommies or a divorce.”

Yev wasn’t sure what that last word meant either, but from Laney’s definition, he now knew who his daddy was.

“He is,” Yevgeny said, pointing at the tall redhead.

“He has pretty hair,” Laney observed.

“And that’s Papa,” Yevgeny said, pointing at Mickey, who was standing right next to Ian.

“He has blue eyes just like yours,” Laney said.

Walking home from the school, Yev looked up at his two grown-ups and said, “Is Ian my daddy?”

“Well, I’m your father…” Mickey began.

“Yes, you are Papa, but is Ian Daddy? Laney said people who live with you and take care of you are daddies.”

“Well, then, yeah, Ian is your Daddy…if he wants to be,” Mickey said. Ian broke into a big smile and nodded.

“I’d like to be your daddy very much, Yev. Do you want me to be?” Ian asked.

“Yeah!” Yevgeny shouted.

“Do you want to call Ian ‘Daddy’?” Mickey said.

Yevgeny nodded happily, and had been calling Ian by that name ever since.

Yevgeny slithered off the couch and walked to his dads.  Fiona and Debbie were saying Happy Birthday to Mickey and Yev took Ian's hand and quietly said, "Bye, have fun at work," while holding his hand.  In one of the moments when everyone stops talking for no real reason, Yev's clear little voice said, "Pretty ring, Daddy!" breaking the silence.  Everyone's attention was drawn to Yevgeny's little hand holding Ian's hand closer to his face, examining the ring.

Debbie squealed, "Is that...?  Ooh, Mickey's wearing a ring too!  Are you guys engaged?"

Mickey and Ian looked at each other and smiled.  "Yeah, guess the cat's out of the bag.  We're getting married," Mickey said.  

Debbie and Yev squealed some more, but Fiona's voice spoke over the din.  "Ian, what the fuck?"  The room went silent again, this time for a reason.  Ian literally saw red for a second, and Mickey saw the rush of anger passing through his lover as it happened.  Before he could say anything, or reach over to touch Ian, Ian spoke to his sister.

"Don't you ever use language like that in front of Yevgeny," he said, keeping his voice low.  Fiona definitely picked up on the undercurrent of threat in it, but luckily Yev didn't.  Ian knelt down in front of Yev.  "Take Papa home and be a good boy for him, all right?  I'll be home too late to see you, so I'll kiss you goodnight right now."  He gently pressed his lips to Yevgeny's cheek and Yev kissed him back.  Ian straightened up and whispered to Mickey, "I'll be okay.  I'll wake you when I get home."  Then louder he said, "Happy Birthday, Mickey," and kissed him.  

Mickey reluctantly picked up Yev's little backpack that had his sleepover things in it and slung it over one shoulder.  "Why don't you walk us down the block?" Mickey suggested, but Ian shook his head.  

"I need to talk to Fiona for a minute.  I'll see you guys later," Ian said.  Mickey knew not to argue-Ian wouldn't be able to stay at Fi's long anyway since he had to get to work.  Mickey scooped Yevgeny up figuring he was too tired to walk the few blocks home.  

"See ya," Mickey said to everyone in general and went out the front door.  

"Debs, give us a minute," Ian said, never taking his eyes off his older sister.  

"Uh, yeah, sure.  Um, see you this weekend?  For Mickey's party?" Debbie said.  Ian nodded and she went upstairs.  

"Ian, come on.  I'm sorry I swore in front of Yev, but I've heard worse from Mickey and you in front of him..."

"It's not how you said it, it's what you said," Ian said in a low voice, determined to hold onto his temper so his sister couldn't accuse him of being irrational.  

"Ian, have you even thought about this?  You're barely twenty-three years old."

Ian was taken aback.  "What the fuck does that have to do with anything?  I love Mickey, I've been in love with him since I was fifteen."

"You've barely had a life!"

Ian snorted. “I’ve had more of a life than most people three times my age.”  


“Ian, trust me, you’re going to feel so different about things when you’re thirty. Just keep seeing Mickey for now, but you don’t have to _marry_ him. Have your fun then move on.”

It took all Ian had not to start shouting. “What the fuck are you talking about? We’re not ‘having fun’, we’re in love, we’re raising Yev, we’re a family.”

“We’re your family, Ian,” Fiona insisted. “Mickey has always been some sort of first puppylove crush fantasy to you. A dream no one can possibly live up to. You’ve been chasing after him half your life, but at some point you’ll see that you need something different. Someone who will open up the world for you.”

“Fiona, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Mickey is the only person who has ever seen me for me. Kash and Ned didn’t see me as the kid I was when they were fucking me-and Kash had kids close to my age! Caleb only ever saw me as arm candy and Trevor only saw me as _his_ boyfriend, but had no interest in being a boyfriend to me and dealing with my shit. Mickey is truly the only person in my life who accepted every shitty thing that was thrown at me and only wanted to help. And he loved me-and still loves me-through all of it. I don’t need to fuck around with another dozen or more guys to find out he’s my heart’s desire and that I don’t want to be with anyone but him. Tough shit if you think we’re too young to have figured it out. Listen to me when I tell you we have.”

Fiona shook her head slightly. “You two have always been like a gay ghetto Romeo and Juliet, but look how that ended. Ian, you can have a better life than staying here and marrying your childhood sweetheart and being saddled down with his kid. Mickey’s always been about war and sex. You’re stable now, you have a good job. Tying yourself down to Mickey…he’ll set a match to everything you’ve accomplished.”

“Jesus, Fiona, where do you get off? Are you really that oblivious? You’ve always done a hell of a job ignoring when I was in trouble, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you can’t see when I’m happy-and WHY I’m happy. I’ll say it again, Mickey is my family. He’s stood by me through everything-even when my meds get adjusted and we go weeks without sex, even when I pushed him away and he got sent to prison because he was just trying to look out for me. He loves me, he always has, even before he was free to admit it. You got ‘saddled down’ with me when you were too young to have to deal with that kind of responsibility, and I’m sorry, and I know you and Lip tried and did the best you could, just like I tried my best once I got old enough to start contributing and helping with the younger ones. But I do have a choice when it comes to Mickey and Yev, and I choose them-and I’ll choose them over being a Gallagher if you force it into a choice. Mickey and I are grateful for all the help you give us with Yevgeny, but Mickey was managing even before I went back to him, and he and I could manage without you and Debbie helping out.”

Fiona’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want you to cut yourself off from us, Ian, that’s not what I’m saying.”

“And I don’t want to give you an ultimatum, Fiona. But if you’re not willing to accept me marrying Mickey, or if you act like it’s a mistake when I do, I won’t feel welcome here and I won’t expose Mickey and Yevgeny to that negativity.”

“Okay, Ian, I get that. You’ll always be welcome here, and Mickey and Yev too.”

Ian didn’t think things were going to be that easy, but right now he really had to get his ass to work. Besides, trying to get Fiona to actually listen to him was something he hadn’t been able to do for most of his life, so he didn’t really see that things were going to change all that much now.

They said goodbye and Ian looked back right before he stepped out into the foyer. Fiona was headed towards the kitchen, her phone in her hand. Ian figured she was probably going to text Lip that they needed to talk. Ian ground his teeth and left.

When he went home to Mickey after his shift, Mickey was up and watching TV. He clicked the set off when Ian walked in.

“Mick, you didn’t have to wait up for me,” Ian said.

“Wound up sleeping the day away,” Mickey said, stretching and standing up. “When I got home with Yev I put him in our bed for a nap and joined him, figuring he’d wake me up when he’d slept long enough, but I actually woke up first, at six, and made him supper and he woke up just enough to eat that and then went to bed. Since I had nothing better to do-and since someone rode me good and hard all last night and this morning-I went back to bed too. Woke up around eleven and I’ve been watching TV since. You have an all right shift?”

“Yeah,” Ian said, resting against the doorjamb. “Luckily it was a clear, dry day, so the only car accidents we responded to were fender benders and most of the rest of the calls were heat related-dehydration and people feeling short of breath. All the stabbings and shootings must have gone to other companies-or it was too hot even for the gangs today.”

“You want to eat, sleep, shower, or make love?” Mickey asked.

Ian broke into a genuine smile. “We ‘make love’ now?”

“Figure we gotta class it up now that you’re making an honest man of me-no more bangin’.” Mickey gave Ian a look that shot right down to his dick.

“Well, as tempting as that sounds, I’m pretty beat.”

“Oh thank god. My ass and nipples are still sore from all that birthday sex.”

“All that birthday love making, you mean,” Ian smirked. “Guess I should eat, I skipped my pills cuz we caught dinner on the run. A shower sounds good too.”

“Hop in the shower and I’ll make you something,” Mickey said. “Yev and I had chicken salad sandwiches, I think there’s some left.”

Ian wrinkled his nose. “Mayonnaise this late with my pills doesn’t sound too appealing. Maybe just some cinnamon toast?”

“You’ve got it,” Mickey said.

When Mickey heard the shower shut off he popped two pieces of bread in the toaster and when Ian came out in his boxers and a tank top rubbing his hair dry, he was just in time for Mickey to put the warm toast on the table in front of him.

“Water or ginger ale?” Mickey asked.

“Ginger ale, but I can get it…” Ian started to get up, but Mickey gently pushed down on his shoulders.

“Eat while the toast’s warm.” Mickey poured Ian a glass of ginger ale and placed it on the table and sat down next to Ian.

Ian nibbled on the toast and washed down his pills with a swig of the soda.

“Why does cinnamon toast always taste better when you make it?” Ian said, smiling fondly at Mickey.

“Because I never let myself get distracted and I know the perfect instant to sprinkle the cinnamon onto the melted butter,” Mickey said.

Once Ian was done eating, they went to the bedroom. It was slightly cooler in there with the windows open and three fans strategically placed around the bed.

“Aw, fuck. Forgot to comb out my hair before my hands started shaking,” Ian said, sitting on the edge of the bed. His latest meds would give him the shakes for a half hour or so after he took them-another reason why he didn’t take them on his dinner break, he just didn’t have time to recover before he had to be back on the job when they couldn’t take a whole hour.

“I, uh, I could do it,” Mickey said, not sure how Ian would take the suggestion. Lots of times Ian balked at Mickey doing anything for him when it was related to his symptoms or his treatment.

“That would be great,” Ian admitted. “It’d save me from having to wash it again before my shift tomorrow.”

Mickey went into their bathroom and got Ian’s comb and the gel they both used. He knelt on the bed behind Ian and sunk his fingers into Ian’s curls. He’d never combed Ian’s hair for him before, but there were plenty of times he wanted to. Ian’s hair was thick and springy and Mickey loved having his hands tangled in there. He carefully combed out Ian’s hair, making sure not to pull the comb when it got stuck on a snarl. Mickey put his finger or thumb at the base of the section of hair when that happened and pulled the comb through slowly and gently. Once he got it all combed out, he rubbed gel on both hands and massaged it into Ian’s hair.

“Jesus you’re good at that,” Ian purred. “So, I talked to Fiona…”

Mickey held back a sigh. He really hoped he’d get Ian to sleep before he got worked up over whatever family drama Ian had dealt with after telling Mickey to take Yev home. Mickey was willing to hear all about it, he only wished Ian would get a good night’s sleep first.

“Oh yeah?” Mickey said, just to let Ian know he was listening. He kept rubbing his hands in Ian’s hair, hoping to keep him relaxed.

“Yeah. Same old bullshit. She thinks I’m too young, that I don’t know what I want in life, yada yada yada.”

“We could have a long engagement, if you want,” Mickey said. “I know I’m not going anywhere, we can take care of the formalities anytime.”

Ian turned to look at Mickey. “No, Mickey! The whole point of me asking you to marry me-and of you planning the same thing, apparently-is to make it formal, make it legal. Make you the one who has all rights and claims to me,” he finished up softly.

“Okay, then. We’ll do it whenever you say,” Mickey said, and meant it. This time, marriage was going to be so much more than a piece of paper to him.

“Think you could get some sleep now?” Mickey asked in a quiet voice.

“Part of me still wants to be uuuuup,” Ian said, giving Mickey the puppy eyes.

“I bet I know just what part is up,” Mickey laughed. “Okay, I wanted to properly thank you for all that birthday ‘love making’ anyway, and this is so much more personal than sending a note.” He got off the bed and stood in front of Ian. “I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he said, his voice low and sexy.

Ian snorted a laugh. “Bullshit. By your own admission, you were sleeping all day.”

“I must’ve been dreaming of you then,” Mickey said.

Ian tilted his head and looked at Mickey. “Jesus, when did you get so romantic?”

“You caught yourself a romantic fucker, what can I say?” Mickey said with a shrug. “Let’s get these boxers off and see what we can come up with.”

Ian grinned and placed his hands on either side of him and raised his hips off the bed with his feet on the floor. Mickey huffed out a laugh and pulled Ian’s shorts down and off for him.

Ian spread out his feet so Mickey could get on his knees between them. Mickey looked up at Ian from under his thick eyelashes and raised an eyebrow and Ian nodded. Mickey took Ian’s cock into his hand and began stroking the underside of it gently, and then leaned in and placed some soft kisses on Ian’s upper thigh.

Mickey loved Ian like this, fresh out of the shower and compliant and just on the right side of sleepy for Mickey to lavish some attention on him. Mickey nuzzled his nose around Ian’s red fluffy pubic hair and then moved his cock to one side to suck on one of Ian’s balls for a bit. Ian moaned and put his hands on Mickey’s shoulders, kneading them with his big warm hands. Mickey worked his way over to Ian’s other ball, noting that Ian’s cock was growing hard. After a moment, he licked all the way up Ian’s dick and took the tip into his mouth. Ian’s hands moved into his hair and started rubbing there.

Mickey worked his mouth down Ian’s cock, and used his right hand to fist what wouldn’t fit. With his left hand he reached up and slid his way up Ian’s abs, then began rubbing up and down under Ian’s tank top with a rhythm that matched what his mouth was doing.

“Oh, god, Mick. So good, that’s so good, yeah, keep going,” Ian whispered. Mickey was bobbing his head, taking in a bit more of Ian each time, and using his tongue all over the head every time he got back up to there.

Ian was trying really hard to keep his hips down, but the urge to thrust into Mickey’s mouth was strong. Mickey knew Ian was getting close and kept stroking and bobbing.

“Mickey, I’m gonna,” Ian warned him. Mickey patted Ian on his tummy, letting him know he could take it. He hollowed out his cheeks and then sucked in particularly hard and Ian let go. Mickey had to catch a quick breath in through his nose, but he had timed it perfectly so he was able to swallow down Ian’s come without gagging. He’d had lots of practice.

Ian fell back onto the bed, trembling all over. “Oh, god, that was good. Get on up here,” he told Mickey.

Mickey stood up, grinning, and flopped onto the bed next to Ian. Ian wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. “You’re so good to me, do you know that?” Ian said, kissing Mickey’s hair.

“Back atcha. Now let’s get your giant legs going the right way on this bed and get some sleep.”

 

Sunday came and they were at Fiona’s house for the birthday party. Ian and Mickey were the only people not shitfaced by the time supper was done. Ian wasn’t drinking for a few reasons, his meds being the top one, but he also had work the next day plus didn’t think he’d be able to hold his tongue with Fiona and Lip if he had a beer or two. Mickey wasn’t drinking for a few reasons too. One being that they had come over to Fiona’s in their car-Mickey figured he would have a hard time trying to carry both Yevgeny and Ian home if the kid was tired or asleep and if Ian was a bit loaded. Ian insisted he could be the designated driver, but Mickey never really enjoyed drinking around Ian’s family when Ian couldn’t participate anyway.

The day had gone well enough. Everyone congratulated Mickey and Ian on their engagement when they got there, it was clear that Debbie and Fiona had spread the word. Lip even managed to wish them the best, but Ian could see that took effort. Luckily the topic was dropped for the rest of the day, but then night fell.

All the little kids had spent most of the day in the kiddie pool and above ground pool, so they all passed out after the evening meal. They were inside on the couch and chairs and Franny was in her Pack and Play. Even Liam was asleep on the floor.

But outside the “adults” were in full swing, mixing Fiona’s sangria with shots of vodka and getting louder and louder. Inevitably, the talk came around to the wedding.

“So, you kids planning on a church wedding?” Lip asked.

“Frank gonna walk you down the aisle, Ian?” Kev yelled, the booze adding volume to his voice.

“No, no, it has to be Clayton!” Lip insisted. “What do you say, Ian? Your real dad and you and ‘Here Comes The Bride’?”

Fiona and Vee were howling with laughter.

“And what about bachelor parties? Do they each get one, or do we throw a joint one?” Vee asked.

“Gotta have two, otherwise Ian will be the stripper at his own bachelor party,” Fiona cackled, falling into Vee’s side.

Ian and Mickey looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

“Wanna get the fuck outta here?” Ian said quietly, so only Mickey would hear.

“Please.” Mickey nodded.

“Fi, we’re gonna get going,” Ian called. A general boo rose up from the revelers, but they were having so much fun they really didn’t need the butt of their jokes to be there-they’d have even more fun talking about them when they were gone and didn’t have to worry about Mickey throwing down.

“Thanks for the party,” Mickey waved, following Ian inside to get Yevgeny.

Yev slept through being strapped into his car seat. All the windows in the old Buick were down and it was dark already with a gentle breeze blowing so the inside of the car was cool. Ian and Mickey could still hear the raucous laughter coming from the other side of the house as they leaned against the parked car for a moment.

“That was fun,” Mickey said sarcastically. “I imagine the wedding will only be a thousand times worse.”

“Yeah,” Ian sighed. “We should just run off…wait a minute.” Ian pulled out his phone and started typing. “Mick, look, it’s only eight and a half hours to drive to Niagara Falls.”

“So?” Mickey asked, his eyebrows meeting in a scowl.

“So, we could elope! Drive there, get married, spend a night, drive back-no one would have to know till it was over and done with.”

“Why Niagara Falls? Why not just get married here?” Mickey said.

Ian shrugged. “I don’t know. It would just be more…official?...or something? If we did it big, but just for us?”

Mickey remembered Ian’s crack about old queens at city hall and decided that maybe to Ian, the where they did it mattered.

“Yeah, you could be onto something. Remember in Moonstruck when Cher was talking about doing everything right about getting married, or they’d have bad luck?” Mickey said.

Ian stared at him. “You’re referencing Cher movies now?”

“Hey, that movie kicked ass-and she won an Oscar.”

Ian blinked and shook his head. “You think you know a guy…”

“Hey, fuck you. You know me.”

“Yeah, I guess I do,” Ian smiled. “And the delightful surprises are what keep us together.”

“Bet your ass,” Mickey said. “And besides, where did you get Niagara Falls from? That had to be from some movie or something, right?”

Ian nodded. “Probably. The idea just popped into my head.”

“Hey, did you type in Niagara Falls, New York, or what? Don’t want to wind up in Canada and not have the marriage be legal here,” Mickey said.

Ian rolled his eyes and typed Niagara Falls, New York into his phone. “See, it’s the same, eight and a half hours driving time.”

Mickey took the phone from Ian. “We can’t go through Canada, I don’t have a passport.”

“Oh, yeah. Neither do I,” Ian said. “Click on an alternate route.”

Mickey did so. “More like nine hours staying in the US.”

“See? That’s still doable. Let’s do this, please, Mickey?”

“Just you, me, Yev-we load up and drive off?”

“You need anyone else to be there?” Ian said. “You want Lip to be my best man?”

“Uh, no, don’t even joke about that,” Mickey said, smirking. “Nine hours in a car is a long time for Yev.”

“We’ll do some of it, or most of it, while he’s sleeping,” Ian said. He took his phone back. “Look, Toledo’s about halfway. We could go tonight, drive four and a half hours to get there, find a motel, eat breakfast in the morning and then be in New York to get married after lunch. Come on, Mickey, doesn’t this feel right?”

Mickey looked deep into Ian’s eyes. “It actually does. I don’t know why, but it does. But, hey, wait a minute, we both have work tomorrow…”

“Oh, who cares?” Ian threw his hands up and walked around in a little circle. “You said yourself they were telling you to take a whole week off for your birthday, and I know Rita would let me have a few days off for this. We both have personal time stored up.”

Mickey bit his lower lip at the corner, considering. Ian knew when he saw that he had as good as won.

“I could call Ramon, float it by him,” Mickey said, referring to his supervisor. Mickey had been promoted to foreman about a year after he started working at the plant. He was the perfect mix of badass and friendly that the other workers respected him and could work under him. Mickey got the problem guys in line quick and made everyone around him more productive. Little did he know, but upper management had noticed and had him earmarked for a fast track up the ranks as spots became available. “And we’ll have to let Mrs. Sudol know we’re going.” Yev’s babysitter, who they still used to fill in the hours Ian had to be at work. “I want to pay her anyway, since we’re canceling her last minute, if we go.”

“Yeah, yeah, we can do that. Look, it’s not even nine o’clock yet, I can call her and let her know,” Ian said.

“Ian, she’s an old lady, she probably goes to bed at seven-thirty.”

“No, she watches Masterpiece Theatre every Sunday.”

“How do you know this?” Mickey asked.

Ian shrugged. “How do you not know this? She’s always saying how Masterpiece Theatre saves Sunday night television and that everything else that’s on at nine is shit.”

“Not a Walking Dead fan, huh?” Mickey laughed.

Ian had already hit the button to call their sitter. “Hi, Mrs. Sudol? It’s Ian. I just wanted to let you know we’re taking Yevgeny on a little vacation for a couple of days, so we won’t need you tomorrow or Wednesday.” Ian had a scheduled day off on Tuesday and would have been watching Yev then regardless. “We still want to pay you, and we’ll see you on Thursday, okay? Okay, you too. Thanks!” Ian hung up and beamed a smile at Mickey.

“You called her first? What if one of us can’t get the time off?”

“I wanted to be sure to catch her before her show started. Rita and Ramon are going to be fine with it, I’m sure.” Ian was already hitting another button on his phone to make another call. “Hi, Rita, it’s Ian, am I disturbing you? Great. Hey, listen, I know this is totally last minute, but I need Monday and Wednesday off. I’m getting married!” He smiled at Mickey and Mickey could hear Rita’s voice, but not what she was saying. “Yeah, we decided to just elope, avoid family drama, you know.” Ian was nodding as Rita spoke. “Aw, thanks. Three days ought to be enough, but if Mickey can get more time off, I’ll let you know ASAP. Thanks so much. I owe you one.” Ian listened for another few seconds then said goodbye and disconnected the call. “She said I don’t owe her anything, that I’ve filled in lots of times for other last minute shifts,” he told Mickey. He noticed Mickey was looking at him a bit funny. “What?”

“You just told her we’re getting married? Just like that?” Mickey said.

“Well, yeah, everyone had seen the ring already. I told them we were getting married. Shouldn’t I have?”

“Actually, no, why not, right?” Mickey said. He took out his own phone and called his supervisor, hoping he wasn’t disturbing him. “Hey, Ramon, how’s it going? Yeah, sorry to be calling sort of late…oh, what’s the score? Shit, well, hopefully the Sox will rally-hey, I won’t keep you from the game, but, I was wondering, and I’m sorry it’s so last minute, but do you think it’d be possible for me to use some personal time this week? Starting tomorrow? I’m, uh, I’m getting married.” Mickey was listening for a few seconds, and then a surprised look spread across his face. He looked up at Ian. “Yeah, that’s right, the hot redhead.” Ian grinned happily.

“Just through Wednesday, I’ll be back to work on Thursday, if that’s okay.” Mickey listened and smiled. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it. See you then.” He disconnected the phone and raised his eyebrows at Ian. “Guess we’re doing this.”

“I didn’t know you were out at work,” Ian said.

“I didn’t know I was either. I guess we were kind of obvious at the company picnics or something,” Mickey said. Ian had gone to Mickey’s company’s holiday parties and Fourth Of July picnics with him and Yev, but they never said they were together or anything. But then again, they didn’t have to.

 

Yevgeny woke up his usual time. He sat up in bed, holding his stuffed elephant, Mickey on one side of him, Ian on the other, both still asleep.

“Papa, Papa, where are we?” Yev said quietly, used to Ian needing to sleep at different times than him and Papa sometimes.

Mickey was face down on the mattress, Yevgeny had totally taken over his pillow in the night. “Toledo,” he mumbled.

“Oh, okay,” Yev said, falling back onto his pillows and falling back to sleep.  

About an hour later Ian woke up and got his guys up and moving. They hit a McDonalds for breakfast and then proceeded on their drive. Yev was good in the back seat, he napped when he got bored after about half an hour. His belly was full and his dads were happy and the air conditioning in the car felt nice.

They found a motel with a vacancy sign when they got to Niagara Falls. They checked in and got directions to the county court. They had learned online that they could get their marriage license there, plus get a judge to waive the twenty-four hour waiting period. They each had their birth certificates with them, plus Mickey had his divorce decree. They took care of the paperwork and hit a KFC for lunch, then drove back to their motel and showered and changed and got Yevgeny dressed for their wedding.

Online they had found a Justice of the Peace that married people in his home and his wife could be used for the witness, so Ian called and got an appointment for that afternoon. When they got to the house, the JP told them they could get married in the garden if they wished, so they went outside to see it and agreed it would be the perfect spot. They went back inside to handle the paperwork and the Justice asked them if they wanted traditional or modern vows, or if they had written their own.

“Uh, we’ll go with regular vows,” Mickey said, looking to Ian to be sure he agreed. For all he knew, Ian could’ve written vows, but Ian nodded in agreement.

“Very good, and so, traditional or modern?” the JP asked.

“What’s the difference?” Mickey said. “Between them, I mean,” he added quickly, hoping he hadn’t come off as rude.

“Basically the traditional vows include the word ‘obey’ and the modern ones leave that out.”

“Traditional,” Ian said, right away. Mickey shot him a surprised look. “What? I plan to obey you, especially when you really need to kick my…ah, butt.”

“Ian, I’ll always be willing to kick your butt, but you really want to vow to obey me? And you expect me to obey you?”

“Yup,” Ian smiled happily.

“You both always tell me I have to obey you,” Yevgeny piped up. He didn’t see what the big deal was.

Mickey looked down at his son and then up at his groom-to-be. “Fine, obey it is. Can we do this please?”

Ian broke into a big smile and he kissed Mickey on the cheek. “You bet. Let’s go.”

“Just one more thing,” the Justice said before Ian could walk away holding hands with Mickey and Yevgeny. “Are there rings?”

“Oh,” Ian stopped. In all the excitement of running off to do this, they had forgotten about their plan to save up to buy wedding bands. “Uh, no, we’ll just skip that part.”

“Why don’t you trade rings?” Yevgeny said. “When me and Max became best friends, I gave him my Lego Batman and he gave me his Lego Spiderman, and then when school ended, we traded back.”

“That’s an excellent idea, buddy,” Mickey said, squatting down and slipping off his ring. “Do you think you can handle being best man and the ring bearer?”

“I can do it,” Yev said with determination. “Uh, what do I gotta do?”

“When I say, ‘the rings, please’, you’ll hand them to me,” the JP said.

“Okay!” Yev said, more confident than ever. This sounded like an easy job. Ian took his ring off and handed it to Yev too.

They went out to the garden and Mickey and Ian promised to love, honor, cherish, and obey each other as long as they both shall live, and Yev handed the rings over at just the right moment, and Mickey put the claddagh on Ian with the heart pointing at Ian, and Ian put his silver ring with the blue green stone on Mickey’s hand, they kissed, and it was done. The JP’s wife handed Yevgeny a little bottle of bubbles and she and Yev blew bubbles for them to walk through back to the house.

After thanking the Justice and his wife, they went back to the motel to get out of their nicer clothes and put on shorts and T shirts, although Mickey insisted on wearing jeans.

“They’re just gonna get soaked,” Ian said, trying to coax Mickey to wear a pair of shorts Ian had packed for him instead.

“You’ll just have to peel them off me later then, when they do,” Mickey sassed. Ian rolled his eyes. It was going to be hard enough to postpone the wedding night till they were back home in their own bed.

“Why do we keep changing our clothes?” Yevgeny said, as Ian unbuttoned his shirt and helped him out of his khakis.

“Well, we had to dress up for the wedding, but now we’re going on a boat and there will be a lot of water spraying on us from the Falls,” Ian explained. “We better all pee before we go.” That got a giggle out of both his stepson and his new husband, but they took his advice.

They got on the Maid of the Mist to take the boat tour of the falls. Yevgeny got on for free since he was five, and they all got blue ponchos to wear. Ian got out his phone and snapped a group selfie. Mickey and Yev looked at it and Mickey grumbled, “We look like a family of Smurfs.”

“Yay!” Yevgeny said. He loved Smurfs, he’d love to be a real life Smurf. Ian wisely bit his tongue and refrained from telling Mickey that if they were a family of Smurfs, that would make him Papa Smurf. But he tucked it away to tell Yev later.

It was a hot day so the mist spraying over them felt good, and the Falls were truly awe inspiring. The three of them were looking around with big round eyes and open mouths. The wetter they got, the cooler they felt, and they were all smiling and happy. Mickey picked Yevgeny up to see better, and Ian put his arm around them both.

“Thank you for marrying us, Daddy,” Yev yelled over the booming sound of the water. Ian kissed his little wet cheek.

A couple of minutes later a woman walked over to them. “I don’t mean to intrude, but I was panning my phone around taking video of the Falls and I just happened to catch this,” she said, holding out her phone. She pushed a button and the snippet of video showed her camera was right on the little family group when Yev thanked Ian for marrying them. “I thought you might like to have it, I can email you the video, if you’d like.”

“Wow, thanks!” Ian said. The woman handed him her phone and he emailed the video to himself. “That was so sweet of you, thank you.”

“It was so sweet of your little boy to say that,” she smiled. “Nice meeting you, and congratulations.”

Mickey nodded his thanks and Yev asked Ian to bring it up on his phone so he could watch it again.

That night they went to dinner in a nice restaurant. Mickey figured they could splurge this once, it was their wedding night after all. The trip so far hadn’t cost anything near what a wedding would have cost them, so he was in a mellow mood about spending.

At the restaurant Yevgeny told their server, “We got married today            !”

“Did you? That’s great!” the waitress said.

“Yev, I bet lots of people in here got married today,” Mickey murmured, blushing a little.

“Well, sure, but that’s one of the best parts about working here,” the server said. “Almost everyone’s either on their honeymoon or an anniversary trip.”

Ian, Mickey, and Yev looked around. At all the other tables there were couples of all kinds and ages, some with babies and kids. Mickey couldn’t get over how normal it was becoming to see same sex partners. He was glad that was the world Yev was going to get to grow up in, even if it wasn’t all that common in the South Side yet.

Mickey also thought, in his honest opinion, that Yevgeny was the cutest kid in the whole place.

After dinner they found a touristy spot with a gift shop and soft serve ice cream and an arcade all connected. They went into the shop part first, and Ian insisted that they get matching gray sweatshirts that said Niagara Falls in all caps on two lines across the chest. They even had kiddie size ones, but Ian wanted to buy Yev an adult size shirt as well.

“What? Why?” Mickey asked, giving Ian the “are you kidding right now?” eyebrows.

“Mick, he’s growing like a weed. The kid one might fit him for a year, but probably not much longer than that. We’ll always have ours, I want him to have one too.”

“Fine,” Mickey sighed. They weren’t cheap, even in the kid size.

Yevgeny found a plastic snowglobe with a version of the Falls inside and asked if he could get it.

“Sure, Yev-and let’s get one for Mrs. Sudol too. She’d like it, yeah? ” Yev nodded enthusiastically and ran off to get another one off the shelf.

“You pick the best gifts,” Ian told him, when Yev handed it over to him. Yevgeny beamed.

They poked around the store some more. Mickey was relieved Ian didn’t seem to feel like he had to bring something home for his sisters or co-workers. Although he was surprised about the sisters, once he thought about it. Maybe things with Fiona were rockier than Ian was letting on. Mickey decided he wasn’t going to worry about it. Ian could handle the Gallaghers, and if he wanted Mickey’s input, he’d ask for it.

Ian found a display of souvenir spoons. “Mick, come look at these, which one do you think we should get?”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “What the..heck,” he remembered they were out in public with lots of little kids around in the nick of time, “do we need one of those for?”

“It’s a souvenir! What’s wrong with a little souvenir? It’ll always remind us of today, and it doesn’t take up much space…”

“Get whatever one makes you happy, sweetheart,” Mickey said, trying to be snarky but coming off as adorable. After great deliberation and a consult with Yevgeny, Ian made his choice.

“Are we done here now?” Mickey asked.

“Can I play some games now?” Yev asked.

“Yeah, you’ve been real good today, little man, I’m proud of you,” Mickey said sincerely. Yevgeny lit up at the praise.

“You’re the best best man and ring bearer anyone getting married ever had,” Ian added.

Other people were going back and forth between the arcade and the shop with their hands full of merchandise, so instead of making Yev wait for them to check out, they brought him over to the change machine and got some quarters and then let Yev scope out which games he wanted to try. He wound up picking a driving game to play first and was sitting in the little bucket seat having a great time while Mickey and Ian watched.

“You know, we could probably sneak off to a bathroom someplace for a quickie handjob,” Mickey whispered in Ian’s ear.

Ian rolled his eyes. “Please. We’re not going to consummate our marriage in a public restroom.”

“How about back at the motel after he falls asleep?” Mickey was nothing if not persistent.

“Mutual handjobs are not on the table, Mick.”

“Well, you could always bend me over the sink in there and do a proper job. You know we can be quiet. We can watch each other in the mirror…”

Ian gave that offer some thought. “Yev would have to be really and truly asleep…”

“You know he will be,” Mickey scoffed. “He’s had a huge day. He’s running on fumes as it is.”

Ian smiled a secret little smile. “Yeah, yeah…it might work.”

“Papa, I need to go to the bathroom,” Yev said, suddenly at their feet and startling them both.

“Oh, okay, buddy. The ice cream part probably has a bathroom, let’s go see. You good?” Mickey said to Ian, as Yev took his hand and began to pull him towards the ice cream section.

“Yeah, I’ll wait for you guys here,” Ian said.

When Mickey and Yev got back, Ian had two bags of their stuff. “I figured I might as well pay for this so we can leave as soon as we’ve had our ice cream.”

“Good idea,” Mickey agreed, looking forward to getting back to the motel.

Yev was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but Ian insisted that they stay with him for a good hour, in case he woke up. He didn’t though, and the two adults quietly went into the bathroom. Ian had brought one of the bags from the souvenir shop in with them.

“What’s that for?” Mickey asked.

“This,” Ian said, pulling out a jar candle. “Got your lighter?”

Mickey rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure they don’t want people lighting things in the rooms, Ian. This whole place is non-smoking.”

“And this is a soy candle,” Ian said, holding it up so Mickey could see the label. “Burns clean, no smoke. Besides, there isn’t even a smoke detector in here. The overhead light will be too harsh. Come on, Mick.”

Mickey read the scent on the candle. “Gingerbread, huh?” He raised and lowered his eyebrows a few times at Ian.

Mickey fished out his lighter and Ian lit the candle and flicked off the electric light. Mickey had to admit, it was cozier with just the flame. They kissed, open mouthed and hot. They were finally alone.

After a few minutes, they broke apart and Ian put his hands on Mickey’s shoulders and spun him towards the sink, so they were looking at each other in the mirror. Ian face was looking over Mickey’s left shoulder, so when he looked in the mirror he had a flash back to another time when he had put a picture of Ian’s face in just about that spot, and he grasped onto the edge of the sink and hung his head down and took a couple of deep breaths trying to disperse the feeling of déjà vu.

“Hey, what is it, you feeling okay?” Ian asked, rubbing between Mickey’s shoulder blades. “Did you get dehydrated today?”

“No, that’s not it,” Mickey said, wishing the feeling would just go away. But then he realized, Ian was his husband now, he should share when things were bothering him, just like he wanted Ian to share his burdens with him. Mickey turned around and faced Ian, leaning his butt against the side of the sink.

“When you were away, in the army, I had a picture of you, and I was missing you so bad, that, uh, I tried to use it to, you know, help me-like, pretend you were there while I…tried to get off.”

Ian nodded.

“Well, it didn’t work. I was hurting too much and missing you too much and I wound up just punching the bathroom mirror. I had hung your picture up so I could see it, you know? And your face just now, it was in the same spot, roughly. And it made me remember.” Mickey looked down at his feet.

Ian put his arms around Mickey. “I’m sorry you ever had to feel like that, sorry I put you through that. But I’m so glad you can tell me about it now.” He kissed Mickey gently. “We don’t have to do this, now. Here.”

“No! I want to. I didn’t want to kill the mood…”

“You didn’t, Mickey. Pretty sure I love you now more than ever. Every minute with you and Yevgeny I love you guys more. I don’t think that’ll ever stop.”

Mickey smiled at Ian. “C’mere,” he said, kissing him hard again. They got each other worked up quickly and Ian stayed over Mickey’s right shoulder while he made love to him and they enjoyed their wedding night even if they did have to be quiet and standing up.

They spent most of the next day at the motel pool. Yev swam like a fish and they played Marco Polo with some other families and had an all around great time. That evening Yev wanted to go back to the arcade, and they wanted him to stay up as late as possible since they’d be heading out in the morning and hoped he’d sleep through a lot of the car ride, so back they went. This time Ian went to the bathroom with Yev and Mickey hung around waiting.

The trip back to Chicago seemed even easier than the drive to New York. Mickey and Ian took turns, each driving a three hour shift and then an hour and a half, stopping to get breakfast and lunch and snacks and bathroom breaks when they traded off and neither of them got too tired. They had a quiet supper at home and figured they’d tell Ian’s siblings they’d gotten hitched whenever they saw them again. They wanted to stay in their honeymoon bubble a little longer.

Yevgeny went to bed early and voluntarily. Even though he had slept a lot in the car, the excitement of the past couple of days was catching up to him. They sat in his room with him for a little bit, reliving the highlights and looking at his snow globe. He couldn’t wait to give his babysitter her snow globe when he saw her the next day. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, hugging his elephant who had made the whole trip with them.

Ian and Mickey went to their bedroom and Mickey pulled a shopping bag out of the duffel bag he and Ian had used as a suitcase for the trip.

“I, uh, I got you something,” Mickey said.

Ian looked at him in surprise. “A souvenir?”

Mickey grinned. “Yeah, whatever.” He reached into the bag and took out a folded T-shirt and passed it over to Ian. Ian let held it up so he could read it. White letters in a retro font said “Niagara Falls Is For Lovers”, the shirt was a faded Superman blue. It looked very nineteen-seventies.

“This is so cool, Mickey, I love it!” Ian gushed. “But, did you get you one? I’d love to see this color on you, with your eyes and hair.”

Mickey rolled his eyes and pulled out another T-shirt, holding it up against his body. “You happy now?”

“Well…”

“Ian, it’s hardly the message you’d expect to see on a little kid,” Mickey said in a slightly exasperated tone. Ian looked a little crestfallen. “However, I knew that wouldn’t stop you…” Mickey pulled out another T-shirt and unfolded it, revealing it to be kids size, but in every other way, identical to theirs. Ian lit up.

“I don’t suppose…” Ian said, looking at the bag hopefully.

Mickey let out a big sigh. “You’ve got me whipped already, don’t worry,” he said, pulling out one last T-shirt, this one an adult medium, so, exactly like his and Ian’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! A bit of romantic fluff because our guys deserve it! 
> 
> Sorry I can't let Fiona's-or Emmy's-comments about Mickey go, but what can I say? I'm stubborn and I hold a grudge. 
> 
> I never know what to say in the notes, so, if you've gotten this far I just want you to know I appreciate you!


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